The Contenders

11 January 2013

Another 2013 Update

I
won’t pretend that you all aren’t already aware of these two challenges but as
you might have guessed, I’m participating in both and I want to put out my
reading list out there for comments/critique.
If somehow, you don’t know about these events, you should.

2013
Sci-Fi Experience posts

This
promises to be an awesome (non)challenge as it was last year. I’ve already added two of my recent reviews
and hope to get a few more in. After the
2012 Experience, I decided to make a
better effort at TV/Film so I’m working on that this year.

I recently decided to give the influential TV
series from the sixties a shot. When I
was younger, my Mom considered herself a “trekkie” (now I understand it’s more
appropriate to say “trekker”?), so I have some limited experience with The Next Generation. I have little to know memory of seeing any
from the original series though, so I hope someone will help me with this. Prior to the 2013 Sci-Fi Experience, I watched
the Pilot and the first episode of season 1, “The Man Trap”. I’m wondering if this is a series one ought
to watch from start to finish or if I’ll be well served enough by trying to hit
some of the most memorable/influential episodes first. If the former is most appropriate, I’ll do
that but if the latter is the case, I need some help picking some episodes to
watch. I know that there were some
episodes written by Hugo winners, and that would be interesting, but I really
want to see the episodes that are standards for SF fans.

The
Brother from Another Planet (1984) – Directed by John Sayles

While planning, I was in the right mood for this
one and I didn’t think many other people would be reviewing it.

DRAFT WoGF Picks

Here,
I’ve noted the 12 Women of Genre Fiction that I originally picked to read. Then I remembered that one of the stipulations
is to pick an author randomly so I plopped Ali in front of the WWEND All Female
Authors page and asked her to randomly pick an author for whatever reason she
wanted. So I have one extra author
listed here, but I fully expect this list to change. WWEND is still adding authors and they
promise to make it hard on us by adding new lists/authors throughout the year,
forcing us to reconsider our author list.
I like it. Anyway, here’s my list
with some possible titles as well, if you have a different suggestion or think I
might really like an author I haven’t listed, please let me know!

Definite WoGF picks:

Ali’s
Random Pick

Ann Radcliffe – The Mysteries of Udolpho (it’s the only title on WWEND)

Hugo
Winners

Susanna Clarke – Jonathan
Strange & Mr. Norrell

Jo Walton – Among Others

Possible WoGF picks:

Margaret Atwoood –The Handmaid’s Tale (Likely)

Lauren Beukes – Zoo
City (But Moxyland seems cool
too)

Evangeline Walton – The Mabinogion

C.S.Friedman – Black
Sun Rising (This was a recommendation from SJ)

P.D. James – The
Children of Men

Diana Wynne Jones – Howl’s Moving Castle

Margo Lanagan – Tender
Morsels

The audiobook is read by Michael Page – he
killed The Lies of Locke Lamora so I couldn’t pass this up!

15 comments:

Yes to Atwood and yes to Okorafor! I'd be curious to know your take on the Okorafor...I had mixed feelings immediately after reading it, but looking back it was so different from the "sci-fi" I've read in the past...also I have yet to read any Octavia Butler, but I've heard nothing but good about her stuff.

I've only read "Fledgling" by Octavia Butler. It was pretty good. There are a couple others of hers that I'd like to read but since I've already read one, I guess that won't count toward the WoGF Challenge. As for the Okorafor, I don't know about you but it seems like a number of my most favorite books/films were those that I had very mixed feelings about at first.

I enjoyed PD James' The Children of Man. Also, not a bad movie was made of it. I also had fun with Priest's Boneshaker, a sort-of steampunk cum zombie adventure. I'm eager to read more from this universe.

And of course, big ups for Lauren Beukes! Why not read both :) Her third novel is due for release this year, I believe.

I actually had Boneshaker in my hand at the bookstore about a month ago too! I did not know it had zombies. I opted instead for a volume of 3 books in the John Carter Series. I don't think I went wrong but I hear so much about Boneshaker that I didn't want to pass it up again. I'm also pretty excited about Beukes, I don't know how many other South African authors I've read. Just a couple probably.

Looks like a lot of interesting picks for WoGF! I'll be curious to hear what you think of "Howl's Moving Castle", I've only ever seen the anime film adaptation (which I hear is a bit different). My own list is mostly made up of books I picked up from the secondhand bookstore. I haven't decided how I'm going to pick the random one yet.

I think I'll participate in the Science Fiction Experience, too. I was initially a little confused on how a not-challenge works, but it looks like fun!

I'm planning to read Okorafor's Akata Witch. otherwise I don't think we are doubling up on any other authors, which is great! though this might change because a visit to the Library site suggests a few of my initial picks may not be available...

Yeah, I expect that some other review will have me reconsidering authors throughout the year. What's great is that I'll actually have that ability since the Hugo's occupy so little of this challenge for me!

Okay. Star Trek. I love the original series and my suggestion would be a) watch it on Netflix streaming as they've updated it with HD and really nice CGI in the background planet shots and b) I would recommend watching either the first two full seasons or at least sampling from those. I've heard the most complaints about season 3. Season 1 really has some of the most memorable episodes. I always find it fun to watch the episode with Khan in it followed by the movie ST 2: Wrath of Khan.

I am a fan of Priest's Clockwork Century novels. Boneshaker was good and I liked Dreadnought even better, but I think I am the minority in that. I have the latest two books yet to read.

Among Others is a favorite because of its unabashed love of books and reading.

I'm getting ready to read This Alien Shore by C.S. Friedman (will be my first experience with her work) as I've loved the Michael Whelan cover for ages.

Thank you for taking up my Star Trek question! So based on your recommendation, I'm just going to continue watching sequentially. Maybe I'll get a review up this weekend for the 2013 SFE. Thanks again.

Also, I love how much you love cover art! I wish I had the time/energy/money to make that a collection in its own right. For now, I just religiously follow your art posts :)